We visited Boise earlier this summer. My wife fell in love with it. It is a really lovely city with a close-in airport, excellent restaurant district, safe downtown, affordable homes. Metropolitan Boise (Ada and Canyon counties) has around 700,000 people, so it is not a backwater.
It is only a 10 hour drive between Boise and the SF Bay Area, and about 6 hours (440 miles) east of Portland.
“It is only a 10 hour drive between Boise and the SF Bay Area, and about 6 hours (440 miles) east of Portland.”
Clearly you do not live or stayed in either one of those two s**tholes.